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Glossary
This is a glossary of various official and player terminology seen in varying levels of usage among players of the game. They can range from names, nicknames, slang, acronyms, and much more. For hero name shortenings used by the Overwatch community, see Glossary/Hero shortenings. ''Please note: Any terms on this page must be as clear-cut as possible. All terms must be related to Overwatch or the game's community explicitly. Other online terminology can be found on Urban Dictionary.'' # ;2CP :The Assault gamemode. Abbreviation for 2-Capture Point, as the game mode requres the attacking team to capture two objective points. A ;Aimbot :Soldier 76's Ultimate. From a term for a computer program used for cheating which makes the player's weapon automatically aim at enemies in sight. B ;Baby D.Va :D.Va without her MEKA suit. ;Beyblade :Refers to a combination of Nano Boost, Death Blossom, and occasionally, Crossfade: Speed. The name originates from the anime and manga series Beyblade. ;Boop * To surprise an enemy player with a close-up attack, often a Map Out. Taken from the promotional video introducing Sombra. * Another term when a player gets knocked back (such as from Lúcio's Soundwave). ;Boostio :An instance where a Lúcio receives a Nano Boost by accident. ;Bunny Blaster :Another name for D.Va's Light Gun. C ;Carry * Term for a single good player to win the game for a bad team. * A type of hero with a strong defining feature which can win the game alone if supported appropriately by other characters. Carry characters can thus define the entire team's strategy. For example, Widowmaker is powerful alone, can shut down entire teams when supported. ;Card :The set of 4-5 players displayed at the end of the match. All 12 players can then vote on the player think think performed best. You are allowed to vote for yourself. Reaching 5 / 10 votes grant that player bonus experience. ;Cart :Competitive gaming term for the payload in Escort and Hybrid maps. ;CD :C'ool'd'''own - when using an ability, there is a short amount of time before it can be used again. '''CC C'rowd '''C'ontrol - abilities that allows players to force enemies into tough positions or off the map (i.e. Roadhog Ult or Hook, Pharah's concussive blast, Junkrat mine, etc.) ;Chacal :Junkrat, on French localisations. ;Chaser :A player who will chase a fleeing enemy for a long period of time to get the kill. Knowing that a player is a chaser can be valuable since they can be baited away from the point or payload. ;Chavette :Tracer, after British derogatory slang for a lower-class young woman. (Tracer is actually 26 and a military heroine, but her accent and vocabulary more resemble "young and lower-class".) ;Chopper :Roadhog, on French localisations. ;Comp *The "Competitive" game mode *The team "Composition" - the range of characters picked on a team and how well they work with each other. ;Conga Line :An alternative term for Trickling; also a player failing to respond to someone attacking them from behind, trying to rush ahead anyway. D ;Dash Reset :Genji's Swift Strike abillity. Named for the cooldown timer resetting after a dash when eliminating an enemy. ;Deathball :A teamplay style focusing on the team sticking together and synergizing with others in order to win fights. The two main team strategies for Overwatch are Deathball and Dive. (Alternative: a physics basketball with Symmetra turrets mounted on it.) ;Deep Strike :To pass over/under/through the enemy's defense line and onto the point/payload, forcing some of the enemy team to turn around and deal with you and thus breaking apart the line. This procedure is done usually with a Genji and Winston in the team. ;Dive :Alternative term for Deep Strike, also used on a smaller scale - referring to moving to the back line of a team in order to kill characters likely to be there, such as Zenyatta or Mercy. ;Double Point :The Assault game mode (because there are two points to capture). ;DPS :Damage Per Second. A measure of how much damage a player, hero, or weapon does. Also used to describe a type of hero who specializes in dealing large amounts of damage. E ;E :A character's second special ability, from the key used to activate it on PC. On consoles it is usually the right shoulder button. ;Edge :A shorthand request from a Mercy player, meaning "go to the edge of the platform you are standing on, so I can see you and use Guardian Angel". Usually ends up being repeated multiple times with increasing frustration, alternating with the "need healing" standard line. ;ELO Hell :Being trapped in a low Competitive rank because you are put in teams with others who drag you down. Possibly a legitimate claim where team cooperation is a problem. Possibly just boasting. From the ELO Rating System used for calculating scores. F ;Fatale :Widowmaker, on French localisations. ;Feed :To allow enemies to rack up kills and thus charge their Ultimates quickly is "feeding them". On most teams, always what the other person is doing. ;Flash Fan :As McCree, the combination of Flashbang followed by Fan the Hammer, which can kill or deal substantial damage to most heroes. ;Frag :Competitive gaming term for a kill or elimination. First coined in the game Quake. G ;Gamesense :The ability to know what is going on in the match as a whole, rather than in only your individual perception of it. Critical to team cooperation at higher levels of play. ;Gold Medal Fallacy :The belief that because a player has a gold medal in a given stat, indicating they are #1 in their team in that stat, they must be playing well or correctly. Untrue, since a) the team could be bad also, or being sabotaged by their behavior; and b) "trash damage" and other phenomena can distort the stats. H ;Hero Racing / Hero Rushing :Rushing to select a hero in order to select them hero before someone else does and they become unselectable due to stacking limits (see below). Also known as instalocking. Currently applies to Quick and Competitive games. ;High Noon :Alternate name for McCree's Deadeye, due to the line he says when casting it. ;Hitscan :Refers to guns which do not shoot bullets that are visible in the game world, but simply hit if the enemy is lined up with the sights. For example, McCree is hitscan and Pharah is not. I ;Impact :The amount of difference a player's actions make to the team winning the map objective. ;Impact Frag :Killing an enemy hero or heroes in a way that makes a significant difference to the map objective. Usually used as the opposite of "Trash damage" (see below). J K ;King of the Hill :Alternate name for the Control game mode. ;Koth :Abbreviation for King Of The Hill. L ;LOS :Line Of Sight. Most abilities that affect other players require them to be visible. M ;M1 :A character's default fire mode, as the mouse button used for it on the PC. On consoles, it is the right shoulder button. ;M2 :A character's alternate fire, as the mouse button used for it on PC. On consoles, it is the left shoulder button. ;Main *The hero a player uses a majority of the time. *The midsection or most used route of the map. ;Map Out :To kill someone by pushing them off the legal map. From the similar term "Ring Out" in fighting games. ;Meta :"Metagame": the aspects of the game which are more about the relationships between the players than the actual rules of the game. In Overwatch, usually refers to team dynamics. N ;Nano(X) :A combination of Nano Boost and an Ultimate ability, with (X) being a part of the Ultimate ability's name. Some common names include NanoVisor, NanoBlade, and NanoHog ;Nope / to Nope :To cancel a character's Ultimate by killing them. Sometimes used as a team callout to tell your team that a previous Ultimate announcement is no longer relevant. ;Nuke :D.Va's Ultimate. Called so because it's a massive explosion. O ;One Life Rule :"On Defense you only get one life." Rule in force at the highest levels of play with highly coordinated teams; a team that can overcome a defensive strategy will likely pick off remaining heroes and then 6-hero capture the point, which can happen so quickly that respawning and returning to the point even once can be too slow. : :'''Overextending :Nathan Johnson P ;Payload :The Escort mode. ;Pick :From "pick off" - to kill single critical enemy players in the opposing team, as opposed to winning a fight between entire teams. ;Pixie :For a fast character, typically Tracer, to run around on the point as fast as possible - not prioritizing killing enemies but just being hard to hit in order to remain there and contest the point while teammates arise. Also sometimes used for Mercy when using Guardian Angel to quickly move between groups of teammates healing them. Rarely, used as a verb for the Guardian Angel ability itself. ;Point to Payload :The Hybrid game mode, which consists of capturing a point then escorting a payload. Also "Assault to Payload", "Assault to Escort", etc. ;Poke at the Choke :A fight where the attacking team stands near/outside a choke point and does not initiate, making little progress and often dealing trash damage to the defending team.. Q ;Q :An alternate name for an ultimate ability, as the key used to activate it on the PC. By default, Y or Triangle on consoles. R Random or Rando The random players found when queueing non-6-stack. S ;Shift :A character's first special ability, from its key used on the PC. Usually the left bumper on consoles. ;Shinigami :Reaper, on Japanese localisations. ;Smurf :A secondary account created by a player which is deliberately engineered into a lower competitive tier than the player's main account. A typical case is in which a group of high level players play together; if one of those players uses a secondary account with an artificially lowered SR, the team's average SR will be lower, causing all team members - including those on their main accounts - to gain more SR when they win. ;Solo Meta :The game environment in which each player chooses their own hero without regard to the choices made by other players. Usually results in an unusually disjointed game that descends into tragedy-of-the-commons arguments where each player insists someone else should be the one to switch. ;Solo Queue :Playing without a group, in Quick or Competitive matches that draw players randomly from a queue. Probably the most common mode of play, but also looked down on by "pro" players because of its tendency to limit team tactics. ;Solo Ult * Using an Ultimate only on a single member of the enemy team. * Using an ultimate when no other team member is around. ;Stacking / A Stack :a) Playing more than one copy of the same hero on a team. No longer allowed in Quick and Competitive games due to its potential for degenerate strategies. b) Altername name for a group. i.e. A group of four players would be called a "four-stack". ;Super :A character's Ultimate. T ;Tag :To step onto the capture point, causing overtime to reset, even with no intention or expectation of being able to stay there. ;Tilt :From Poker, anger or frustration that damages the quality of a person's play. A player who is angry and playing badly as a result is on tilt. ;Trash Damage :Damage inflicted in a way that does not generate important kills for your team; for example, damage that the opponent immediately heals. This creates a misleading Damage stat on the medals screen. ;Trickling :A series of individual players running in one-by-one to an entrenched team and being hopelessly cut down. What usually happens if a team is losing and they aren't coordinating properly. ;Turbopig :Roadhog, on Russian localizations. U ;Ult/Ulti :Alternate names for Ultimate Ability V ;Value :How much impact is gained from certain actions compared to the potential impact they can make. W ;Wallhack :Widowmaker's Ultimate. From a term for a computer program used for cheating which either makes walls and other solid objects partially transparent or reveals other players behind obstructions. ;Wombo Combo :Combining an offensive Ultimate ability with a setup ability. The setup ability is most often Zarya's Graviton Surge, but can apply if the ability is Reinhardt's Earthshatter, Orisa's Halt!, etc. X Y Z Category:Community